LCO / Zacharias

The idea that early romantic piano concertos by Schumann and Chopin can be played as chamber music is not new. Even so, it can still come as a shock. And in these performances by Christian Zacharias and his Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, with the soloist's back turned against the audience and the piano protectively surrounded by the orchestra, it was almost as though we had stumbled into private music-making.

Even in a more traditional performance, passages such as the dreamy A flat major episode in the first movement are memorably private exchanges. Here, though, this transcendent moment was just one intensely musical intimacy among many.

In the outer works of their concert, the Swiss visitors gave charming and idiomatic renderings of Dvorak's E major string serenade and two orchestral dances - works for all seasons by the composer for all seasons. But it was the concertos that lay at the heart of the evening. Everything about the Schumann was organic and responsive, from hushed little whispers between soloist and strings to demonstrative unisons. As the performance developed, it became increasingly mellow and meditative. The last movement, though marked Allegro vivace, was taken particularly expansively, with Zacharias drawing every last ounce of poetry out of passage work that is normally lost in the traditional joyful dash.

The chamber music approach sustained rewards in Chopin's second concerto too, though it is a less remarkable piece than the Schumann. Given the more prominent role of the piano, one focused increasingly on Zacharias's refined and articulate playing. But the Albert Hall will never be the ideal place to listen to Chopin.